Zul'Aman: All The Rage

Back For The Moment

2008-06-13T12:58:00.001-07:00

It's been ages since I wrote on this, and I'm bored, so :P

Well, Zul'Aman is kinda old news, I've now cleared it fully twice, and successfully tanked Zul'Jin. With my current gear, Halazzi really doesn't hit as hard as he used to, and Zul'Jin is a breeze. Yet to get my shield, head or trinket from ZA (got the Heroic chest) :(

The Claw is going through a rough patch atm, with Slicedice, the force behind most of the guild raids, leaving to join Anvil of Crom. Daika and Pikkumjes have left as well, among others. I've practically given up raiding. I farmed heroics heavily to earn 300 or so badges so I could buy the 2H weapon, chest and ring from the Isle of Quel'Danas vendor, but kinda relaxed my play schedule due to A Levels. My last exam is on Wednesday, opening up alot of WoW opportunity in summer, but I'll be focusing more on maximising the other type of play :P

I've been focusing mostly on arena, hitting 1740 with a new druid, Cabamarula, Maiav's alt. I'm hoping to get the S3 mace (1850 personal rating requirement) before Arena Season 4 comes out on June 25th. I've realised that the key to the MS warrior in arena is interrupts - in the past, i just beat on healers until they went OOM, but interrupts increases the healing pressure tenfold. Also, swapping targets and pet killing is crucial. My druid just got the S3 helm, giving her a total of 3 Vengeful, so I'm hoping my rating will hit 1800 this weekend.

In preparation for S4, I've farmed 60k Honour so far ad have 4.4k arena points. I'll be points and honour maxed by the 25th, and I have the required marks already. This will hopefully mean we can make a strong start in S4. I'm looking forward to running into teams like Hjelar/Skerv before they hit 2k again :P

I'll be mainly focusing this guide on my arena experiences and the lessons I've learnt from now on.

Today we got super lucky - we played a fully veng hunter/druid, and killed the pet three times, so I'm never letting hunters out of my sight ever again. We won because the druid glitched up and couldn't run, allowing me to kill her.

We played a fully veng druid/rogue, and won as I managed to solo the rogue without the opposing druid landing a single heal - amazing feeling.

The current rating is 1719, and the game to bring the 1700 up was versus a fully veng warr/pala. I sat on pala whole game, ran him OOM, but spent a good ten minutes failing to kill him due to bubbles. Not sure how to resolve this. We won by me swapping to warr and hitting Death Wish and raping him.

Finally, we played fully vengeful Warrior & Shaman, and lost badly. I rate myself vs. Shamans, but these guys were good. The shammy DPS'd the druid. I tried to handle totems and sunder and interrupt the shammy, but only got him to 60% before he hit Ghost Wolf and kited. Caba says the warr nuked me and drew my nuke to allow the shammy to drink.

Major things to remember:

LoS Beast Within and Heroism. Didn't realise till today the use of Heroism as a defensive option - a Shammy hitting it to try to heal himself out of shit.

Play smart-sword and board.

Zul'Aman Loot Guide

2007-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

I've been browsing the internet for a guide to the timed Zul'Aman loot, but I've had no luck so far. Then, inspiration struck, and I asked myself, 'Why not make my own one?'. So here it is :)

There seems to be some argument over what exactly each saved captive gives you. The general consensus is that the first saved NPC gives you a piece of armour, the next a weapon, the third a ring and the fourth provides one lucky customer with the bear mount. Some people claim that they've had weapons drop from the armour chest, however.

I seriously doubt the accuracy of the drops below, but they make sense if the belief above holds true.

Tanzar's Trunk:
Mantle of Ill Intent
Pauldrons of Stone Resolve
Shadowhunter's Treads
Cord of Braided Troll Hair
Life-Step Belt

Harkor's Satchel:
Trollbane
Rage
Staff of Dark Mending
Tuskbreaker
Amani Diving Staff
Umbral Shiv

Kraz's Package:
Signet of the Last Defender
Signet of the Quiet Forest
Mana Attuned Band
Signet of Primal Wrath

Final Chest:
Amani War Bear

Quite a Feat! (and sweet rewards)

2007-12-02T12:57:00.000-08:00

In today's raid to ZA, I didn't have very high expectations. I was bringing what I'd term a 'second string' raid-two of the healers and two of the DPS were essentially first timers. However, I decided to go for a timed kill of Nalorakk anyhow. We scraped it with about a minute to spare :) Very exciting stuff. The Pauldrons of Stone Resolve dropped, and I finally got rid of my terrible Warchief's Mantle (the other tank was kind enough to pass, as he had Warbringer Shoulderguards).

Some might not agree, but I quite like the look:

We then went on to one shot Akil'Zon and Halazzi, which was completely unexpected. Strangely, we got exactly the same loot as the last time, with Brooch of Nature's Mercy and Skullshatter Warboots dropping. I was particularly impressed by our Halazzi kill, which showed I don't need a hunter to tranquilising shot him :)

Unfortunately, things went downhill after this amazing start. We wiped about six times on Jan'Alai and called it a day. The main guild raid downed him a few hours after we stopped.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. The instance resets on Sunday morning, so we're going to have back to back runs Saturday and Sunday, hopefully providing a combined total of 12 epics (assuming we can get the first two bosses down in time). I'm hoping to bring the best raid possible, and put Jan'Alai to sleep at last.

The Sweetest Thing

2007-12-02T01:07:00.001-08:00

With the advent of Season 3, I'm sure alot of players are sporting cool new looks. However, everyone will pale in comparison to what I look like now. I purchased Vengeful Gladiator's Plate Chestpiece and Gladiator's Plate Helm and was completely blown away by my new look.

New Stuff!

2007-11-27T04:00:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update.

I've added a Zul'Aman reset calendar at the bottom of the page. The colours have blurred slightly as Paint sucks, but oh well.

I've also added new item links throughout the blog, courtesy of Thottbot. They are very cool, in my humble opinion.

I've decided to save up for the Chestguard of the Stoic Guardian. It costs 75 Badges of Justice, I have 40 at the moment.
The breastplate is much, much better than my Vindicator's Hauberk and I can't see the Panzar'Thar Breastplate dropping off Nightbane any time soon, as I've seen it twice already in about eight kills. First time, I transferred it to the other tank out of guilt, as I'd won the King's Defender already that night. Second time, I lost to a new recruit on his first raid for us :(

I hope to eventually replace it with Chestguard of the Warlord from Zul'Jin, but that could take several weeks.

I do realise it has spell damage on it, but the 500 more health it provides makes it a worthwhile investment. I am ready to take some abuse for wearing it, but that's life :P

And yes, I am overusing the item links :)

Jan'Alai-Our Next Big Obstacle

2007-11-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

I took a raid to Jan'Alai for a couple of hours today. We dropped by Zungam to complete our quest first. He is in the hut to the right as you face the entrance to Halazzi's area. We had to clear two extra packs and two single mobs to get to him. Just right click on the metal ball he's chained to in order to release him. He thanks you and walks to the entrance of the hut, and only then allows you to complete the quest. Finishing it netted me a nice Charmed Amani Jewel. I'm going to save it for a new item.

Confusingly, the path to Jan'Alai begins at Nalorakk's platform. The trash on the way to him was as irritating as I'd read it would be. Amani Scouts rush towards the nearest drum when they catch sight of you. If they manage to reach it, they summon two elite Amani Reinforcements from the nearest hut. We wiped early on, but got the hang of it and progressed through the area, admittedly rather slowly. The Amani Guardians dispel Crowd Controls such as Polymorph, so it's crucial to keep reapplying the CC or tank the mobs further away. Mages should spellsteal the Flame Casters' buff, as it gives them a much faster casting speed.

We eventually reached the unattractive Dragonhawk Avatar. We decided to give the 'let him call his adds at 35%, we don't care' strategy a try, but the stream of adds quickly slaughtered our DPSers. After a few tries of this, we attempted a more cautious strategy-when the two hatchers spawned, we allowed one to reach the eggs and hatch three times, rather than killing both of them. However, certain raid members couldn't manage the flame ball minigame, and we didn't manage as strong a try as I wished.

The two elements of this fight which must be emphasised to the raid are the flame bombs and the hatchers. When he teleports the raid into the centre (every 30 seconds), everyone must move to a safe spot so they don't get blown up. When the hatchers spawn, DPS should quickly dispatch one of them and DPS down the other to 20% or so. We had people ignoring the hatchers and DPSing the bosses, which disappointed me.

Wowsa!! Akil'Zon and Halazzi down!

2007-11-24T09:14:00.001-08:00

WoW!! Took Akil'zon down at last, after two wipes, then took Halazzi on our fourth try!! It was a really fun and productive raid. Our shadowpriest Liorna was pretty useful for Mind Control, and having a slightly better geared Offtank helped out a bunch (Sofara).

We one shot Nalorakk, and our Paladin Bormus got his hands on the Mask of Introspection, a very nice healing helm:

I used the two group idea from WoWWiki for Akil'Zon, and it worked a treat. Everyone was able to survive the storms, and we had only one stupid wipe. Akil'zon dropped a very powerful healing necklace, Brooch of Nature's Mercy, which our newly recruited Paladin Hellnexx won.

Halazzi was even more dangerous than I expected him to be. Twice we wiped with me getting wtfsmashed for 17.5k damage, after Sofara our offtank died. So, I think it's important to stress to any raid the importance of keeping the offtank above 60% health so they can survive the 8.5k split Saberlash damage.

The fight was as exhausting as I've read it is, with Alithia our priest saying 'I've never been more OOM' in my life. This guy hits like a warship; serious tanking is required. Shield block up at all times is an absolute must. I blew all my cooldowns at 8% as the healers were OOM, and we just about took him down. He dropped the Skullshatter Warboots, which Sofara won .

It's absolutely crucial to deal with the totems as soon as they appear. On our successful try, we tanked the lynx quite near Halazzi so that our rogue could destroy the totems in a flash. It worked well.

All in all, a highly charged and exciting raid (I'm still shaking). We will go to Jan'Alai the final avatar tomorrow, so let's cross our fingers and see what happens.

Akil'Zon: Fight or Flight

2007-11-20T03:47:00.000-08:00

Our Akil'Zon problem is concerning me. On Saturday we 2 shot Nalorakk and got Akil'Zon to 20%. On Sunday, after some painful wipes on Nalorakk before killing him, we spent two hours with the birdie and got him to 19%. To quote one of my raiders, it seems we lack that last bit of DPS and healing to finish him off.

On Sunday we had a Shaman instead of a Mage, which I thought would be useful for handling adds. We used our usual strategy of keeping adds under control for a few tries, then decided to go for all out DPS, ignoring adds. Both had similar (negative) outcomes. I've decided that this weekend I'll have our Warlock solely on adds and throwing the occasional DoT on the boss.

During Sunday's raid I had Aspect of the Wild and some Nature Res gear which I thought would make the difference, but we still wiped :( To add to my woes, I lost the roll for the Panzar'thar Breastplate on Monday :(

In general news, we downed High King Maulgar, Gruul and The Lurker Below on Sunday night. It seems Claw raiding is taking off again. Unfortunately, I only survived the Lurker, died during the other two fights. I've also realised I need to work on upping my threat during boss fights, I normally focus on surviving. Maybe it'll help at Akil'Zon, as the DPSers can do more damage before I die.

My plan for this weekend is for all the casters to collapse on to one caster (who will be standing at one corner of the square) when we get the warning 'Storm Soon'. This should stop us being ganked by Static Disruption with everyone crowding around the tank (the DBM timer seems to be very off). Stole this 'alternate strategy' from WoWWiki by the way :)

If we wipe four or five times, I'll probably head to Halazzi, the Lynx boss. I've heard (or rather read) that he is a huge pain in the ass and amazing healing is required, but it's worth heading there for the experience. The trash to Dragonhawk seems very annoying, so I plan to leave him until last.

First Sighting of Bear Mount on Deathwing!

2007-11-19T23:15:00.000-08:00

Title says it all, the notorious Zul'Aman bear mount has been spotted, in the hands of one very lucky (and skilled) orc.

The Amani War Bear is a timed reward, for downing Nalorakk within twenty minutes of starting the instance. Pretty cool, in my humble opinion. This raises the question, how hard IS it to get this mount? Not quite on the same scale as Baron Rivendare's mount, it seems. I'll be looking to grab one of these as soon as we're comfortably downing Nalorakk (wiped four times on Sunday before getting him, but we did have a little brother playing our Paladin).

Nalorakk Down, and Akil'Zon Nearly Down!

2007-11-17T16:35:00.000-08:00

The raid earlier today was pretty successful, and extremely fun. Zul'Aman is without doubt one of the most entertaining and challenging instances I've experienced to date. It's definitely a pleasant contrast from Karazhan.

Overall, the raid was successful by almost anyone's standards. However, the first few minutes did not bode well. First of all, we had a server restart 5 minutes before the alloted start time of the raid so we had to delay. Secondly, the instance refused us entry even with ten people banging on the gong. Once we tried to hit the gong in time with Harrison Jones (Harrison Ford+Indiana Jones), the instance sprung open. The pack which attacked upon our entry was dispatched without a problem, but somehow we managed to aggro the 2 man troll pat as well as Nalorakk's three trolls, and wiped ;(

After a sharp word with everyone about not making things harder than they have to be, we advanced to the final pack before Nalorakk without difficulty. Unfortunately, we faced two warbringers (trolls on bears which dismount at 20% in to two separate mobs) and two medicine men. It turns out the two trolls to the sides of the warbringers can be guardians, axe throwers or medicine men. We definitely faced the hardest possible combination, as the medicine men drop totems which grant immunity to all mobs around them and can heal. As we don't have a mage for tomorrow, I sincerely hope we have an easier pack tomorrow. After wiping once, I decided to let out Fury Warrior Hjelar tank one of the Medicine Men and have it killed first, then have the two trolls and their bears dealt with, and finally the Polymorphed Medicine Man. This worked fine.

We wiped once on Nalorakk, for no real reason. The second time, our OT Druid Silaqui died an untimely death at 20% health, leaving me to Shield Wall my way to victory. Two bears needn't have died :( Nalorakk dropped the much anticipated Off Hand weapon Fury, which our Fury Warrior got his hands on. Go Claw! :)

I was expecting to have some trouble with the gauntlet leading to Akil'Zon, but our PvP aficionado Silifus the frost mage took no time at all in proving me wrong. We got to Akil'Zon's platform first time with no difficulties. In some ways, this was the end of the raid, as we spent a good hour and a bit wiping here. Everyone knew what to do and we had some very good tries, but there were a few newbie errors which brought us down. 25% was our best try.

Tomorrow however, I'm bringing the Nature Res gear so his 7k burst damage isn't as much of a killer. I'm pretty certain he won't trouble us any longer. I'm going to have Talius, our hunter, use Aspect of the Wild, and Kirby our Shaman use his Nature Resistance buff so everyone takes less damage from his Static Disruption attack.

Sneak Peek

2007-11-16T14:38:00.000-08:00

Had another look at Zul'Aman yesterday, after the patch had come out. The place is visually very attractive, I had to stop to take some screenies :)

The raid is tomorrow, and I'm excited :) I'm bringing along a Druid OT, hopefully everything will be fine.

I handed in the quest from Griftah in Shattrath City, so hopefully I'll be carrying around a nice 20 slot bag by this time tomorrow :)

There were some hordies there, but they left me alone for some reason. Maybe they're waiting until it's 10 vs 10 rather than 10 vs 1.

Zul'Aman Trailer!!

2007-11-14T02:51:00.000-08:00

Blizzard have released a very cool trailer for Zul'Aman. Check it out here:

http://media.worldofwarcraft.com/movies/video_loader/wow_video.htm?vid=zulaman-en&dir=movies/zulaman&img=zulaman&rating=wow

Eagle Lord Akil'Zon

2007-11-13T04:54:00.001-08:00

Eagle Lord Akil'Zon is the 'second' boss of Zul'Aman (the easiest after Nalorakk).

He shouldn't trouble the Claw for long, it's a fight similar to Aran in that, once everyone in the raid knows the fight, it's easy.

He only requires one tank, so the OT can DPS.

He has two moves which will put a spanner in the works, making him not quite a Tank and Spank :)

Abilities and Counters:

Electrical Storm-Throws a character in to the air and summons a lightning cloud. Everyone in the raid must move to the dark spot on the ground underneath the player in the air. I plan to put a square on myself to make it easy for people to see where to move. Occurs every 45 seconds or so.

Summon Amani Eagle- Summons adds, which must be dealt with or they will overwhelm the raid. I plan to have the mage and lock deal with these, with maybe a bit of help from the hunter should things get bad.

Go to this link for a VERY useful video:
http://www.zulaman.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=27
I can imagine some less skilled raids getting disoriented by all the blue lightning :(

Once everyone gets the hang of moving to the spot under the cloud, I can't imagine this fight will hold us up for long.

Zul'Aman: General Info

2007-11-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

I took a look at Zul'Aman yesterday. Looks very impressive :)

After Wednesday, there will be a new griffon and repair guy next to Zul'Aman. remember to have all your raid members get the flight point!

The Hex Sticks which drop off trash in Zul'Aman can apparently be used on the frogs near the start of the instance. They cause the frogs to transform in to humans who give you gold, and sometimes vendors who sell epic recipes!

Zul'Aman: Trash Guide

2007-11-13T04:21:00.001-08:00

A guide to Zul'Aman trash guide. Work in progress, as my guild advances through the instance I will add more.

Aman'ishi Warbringers-non CCable. Tank them. They demount at 20%, so their bears must be dealt with as well.
Aman'ishi Bears-Vulnerable to Poly, trap, fear.
Aman'ishi Tribesman-Vulnerable to Poly, mind control.
Aman'ishi Medicine Man-Vulnerable to Polymorph, Snares, most CCs. Spawns an Invulnerability totem which makes nearby mobs invulnerable. So, it's a good idea to kill this mob first in a pack, and kill the totem fast.
Aman'ishi Guardians-Come in pairs. Non-CCable. Bring non-elite adds with them.
Aman'ishi Savages-can be solo-AOEd by a mage etc.
Aman'ishi Axe Thrower-Sap, Sheep, Fear

Bear Lord Nalorakk-Tactics

2007-11-13T04:08:00.000-08:00

The first boss of Zul'Aman, Bear Lord Nalorakk is a gear check with quite simple tactics.

He is similar to past bosses in that two tanks are required.

He switches from Troll to Bear form and back approximately every 10% health. Get DBM or Bigwigs addons for a timer for his form changing.

It is recommended that the tank with higher HP takes the Bear form, the tank with higher mitigation take the Troll form.

Ablities (All Forms):
Brutal Swipe-A high damage attack which has its damage split among whoever it hits.
So, the two tanks should be on top of one another so both take 5k damage rather thank one taking 10k.

Troll Form:
Mangle-All bleed effects cause 100% more damage on whoever this hits.
Charge-Charges a random member of the raid and cleaves. So, raid stays spread out.

Bear Form:
Stacks two bleed effects on the tank, so if the tank has the Mangle debuff, he dies.
Deafening roar-Silences the raid for 4-5 seconds.

So, the tanks must taunt off of each other when he changes form. One tank tanks the Troll form, the other tanks the Bear form. This is the major tactic for this fight. As a warrior, I'll be ready to use Mocking Blow or Challenging Shout should my taunt fail.

The silence is the other factor which could cause a wipe. I'll be ready to use my Moroes' Lucky Pocket Watch, Healthstone, trinket, super healing potion, Last Stand or Shield Wall :)

Random tips:
A Blessing of Protection can replace a taunt if required. Cast it on one tank and the boss will switch to the other.

A Blessing of Protection will also remove Mangle, although this should never be required unless mistakes are made.

The encounter is resettable. If a tank dies, RUN.

We two shotted this boss on our first visit to the instance, then managed to wipe five times on our next raid, with the same tanks. Healers have to be on top form for this boss, and HoTs help out. The Silence during Bear form is the most likely point in the fight for a wipe to occur.

Start of the Instance-The path to Bear Lord Nalorakk

2007-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

Bear Lord Nalorakk is the first boss of Zul'Aman. Rather than standing still and waiting to be ganked, he is visible after the first two packs, but can only be engaged safely after you've killed seven packs as he runs away and sends mobs to attack you.

Six packs lie between the start of the instance and the boss. After you hit the gong (saving yourself to the instance), the raid is attacked by two elites and a pack of non-elites. Tank the elites, kill the non-elites, then kill the elites.

Head down to the base of the stairs and wait for a patrol of two trolls to walk by. Engage them when they are to your left. Tank and destroy.

Nalorakk is now visible, standing on his platform. Approaching him causes him to send three trolls down to you. I chose to sheep one and tank the other two my first time there, had one trapped the second time.

Next is a pack of 2 Amani Bears. They can be sheeped. If you choose to tank them, drag them away from each other as their debuff Armor Crunch (=25% armor) stacks.

Turn left after the bears, and hug the wall to avoid the other bear pack. Enter the gap in the wall to get to the platform where Nalorakk stood to start with. Approaching him again causes him to send four elites down to the raid. CC two, tank the other two. I had the fury warrior equip his shield and offtank one, as we had no mage on our second visit there.

Next are two bear riders, who dismount at 20%. Not to be underestimated. Again, be ready to grab the mounts when the trolls dismount at 20%. Tank them at opposite corners of the platform to avoid the stacking debuff.

Finally, the raid has to take down four elites which stand in front of Bear Lord Nalorakk. This is quite a challenging pack, so be careful. It contains two Amani Warbingers who dismount at 20%, as well as two trolls, which can be Medicine Men, Axe Throwers or Tribesmen. Have the two tanks take the Warbringers to opposite sides of the platform. Crowd control the other two if possible, take them down if you can't CC them. Healers have to be on their feet here. Run too close, and you will aggro him!

Boss tactics to come.

Zul'Aman-Preview

2007-11-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

I'm going to write a preview for Zul'Aman, both as a tool for myself and for my raid/anyone else who reads this.

I'm planning to lead our guild's second raid in to Zul'Aman this Saturday, the 17th of November. We will have a followup the next day as well.

I've done some thorough research concerning the instance, and I'm confident we'll get the first boss down, Bear Lord Nalorakk. I'm also hopeful we'll get Eagle Lord Akil'Zon, the second boss, down as well.

My proposed raid setup is:
Warrior (Prot)
Warrior (Prot)
Hunter
Warlock
Mage
Rogue
Rogue
Priest
Shaman
Paladin

There are two issues which are bugging me at the moment. One is the lack of a druid healer, as HoTs are very useful for the first boss. The second is that Shamans are apparently the most mana-inefficient healers, and the first boss is a long, mana intensive fight, as he hits hard and has a big health bar.

Also, I'm not 100% sure the tanks are geared enough for the fight. The only non Kara items I'm using are Vindicator's Hauberk, Warchief's Mantle and Regal Protectorate. Hopefully I'm geared enough for him, I'm nearly at 14k unbuffed health. The OT is using Millenium Blade, Mark of the Ravenguard and possibly one or two more blues.

Hopefully I'm just being a worrier and everything will work fine on the day. Everyone else in the group is mostly or fully Kara-epic.

I've read that the tank with higher mitigation should take the troll form, the tank with higher HP should take the bear form. Thus, I'll be tanking bear form :)

Tactics to follow, as well as a guide to trash.

Introduction

2007-11-13T03:43:00.000-08:00

Hey all,

I'm writing this blog primarily as a help to my guild, The Claw on Deathwing-EU. Any other aspiring raid leaders are free to print out my guides and use them, but please give credit to me if you post them on other sites.

Firstly, a bit about myself. I am 18, and live in the UK. I play a level 70 Night Elf Warrior on Deathwing-EU, named Seraphis. I've spent much of my time raiding Karazhan, and have all but two pieces (Panzar'thar Breastplate and Mantle of Abrahmis). Hopefully, I'll get these soon :)

I've completed the Nightbane quest-I found the Shattered Halls heroic part extremely fun, and I plan to do the whole thing in the near future.

I arena quite alot, and also go to BGs. I have two Merciless Gladiator pieces, the shoulders and the gloves, and I have 2500 points saved in preparation for Season 3, when I'll buy the Vengeful Gladiator's Breastplate. I'm lucky enough to have Gorehowl as my weapon (I'm MS), although I may replace it with the Arena 2h at some point.

My armory link is:
http://eu.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Deathwing&n=Seraphis